FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- NBA star Shaquille O'Neal paid for the funeral of a 5-year-old North Carolina girl after being moved by national news coverage of the case of Shaniya Davis, who police say was kidnapped and killed.
The Cleveland Cavaliers player was touched by the stories he saw and got in touch with the family to see what he could do to help, a spokeswoman for O'Neal said Thursday.
Not only have the Lakers been dominant since the return of Pau Gasol, but they've been fun to watch, too. The home win over the Thunder was a complete circus, where you had Kobe Bryant hitting shots from behind the backboard, followed by an impromptu performance from Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, who was handed a mic during a fourth quarter timeout to "spontaneously" do one of his hit songs. Things are good right now in L.A., and the rest of the league has a lot of catching up to do -- read on to see where they all rank this week.
James, Wade and Bosh all can become free agents next summer, which has clouded their chances of playing for Team USA in the World Championships in Turkey, Aug. 28-Sept. 12. But Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball, sees a scenario in which the three still could play even if they might not be available for the team's minicamp in Las Vegas during the third week of July.
"There is a gap between the minicamp and when they have to be back [for a training camp beginning in Las Vegas around Aug. 10],'' Colangelo said in an interview Monday with FanHouse. "That's about three weeks. I could see them getting all their business done by then.''
Every few weeks, FanHouse will offer a writer's opinion on the current NBA MVP Rankings. This time, Tom Ziller gives his top 20 through the season's first four weeks, as well as an assessment of the multitude of rookie point guards.
The Atlanta Hawks find themselves at the top of our rankings this week, thanks to a five-game winning streak against some strong competition -- a gritty overtime win over the Blazers and a road win in Boston were both impressive. Now, let's see if they can avoid the top-spot-jinx on Wednesday night, when they'll host Miami in a rematch of last year's first round playoff series. As for the other 29 teams? Read on to see how they stacked up.
Some people never learn. D.J. Mbenga may be one of them.
Now, D.J. is a good guy and he makes a decent living as the backup center for world champion Los Angeles Lakers, but there's a reason he's a backup center. Besides a talent deficiency, Mbenga is not quick and therefore slow to rotate on help defense and recover on pick-and-rolls.
This often puts him in an awkward position, that position being Mbenga on a poster on his keister.
Such was the case again Friday when Nuggets rookie Ty Lawson went medieval on Mbenga.
(The pair of pliers and the blowtorch after the jump.)
DENVER -- Final four week turned into a flop of finalists.
Meetings of last season's conference finalists got started Wednesday when Cleveland took a huge lead and clobbered defending East champion Orlando 102-93. An even bigger dismantling occurred Friday night at the Pepsi Center.
The way the Nuggets demolished the Lakers, you'd have thought they tried to smuggle coke into the building.
The Nuggets got some revenge against the defending West and NBA champions 105-79. It wasn't even that close.
"Hopefully, this is a big message, not just to the Lakers but to the whole NBA. We're a legit team,'' said Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, who scored a game-high 25 points and outscored Lakers star Kobe Bryant 18-0 in the second half (no, that's not a misprint).
While bound for free agency in the summer of 2004, the Lakers star openly spoke about teams he might consider. But Bryant now says Cleveland star LeBron James is making the right decision by deciding earlier this week to stop talking about his impending free agency.
"He doesn't need to,'' Bryant said in an interview with FanHouse while in Denver for Friday's 105-79 loss to the Nuggets. "He did the right thing by not talking about it. I mean, what can you say?''
DENVER -- Andrew Bynum was talking to his brother early this week when he got the news.
Amare Stoudemire, despite being Phoenix's starting power forward, was listed on the All-Star ballot at center for the Western Conference. That happens to be the same position played by the Lakers' Bynum, and many had considered him the favorite to be the starter after Houston's Yao Ming was lost for the season due to injury and Shaquille O'Neal was traded from Phoenix to Cleveland of the East.
"I was definitely surprised,'' Bynum said in an interview with FanHouse about Stoudemire being listed at center even though he's started every game this season at forward, with Channing Frye having opened at center for the Suns.
The Heat drew mostly guffaws when it retired the jersey of Michael Jordan, who never played one second for the franchise. Heat prez Pat Riley suggested it was a move to honor the game's greatest player, but most saw it as a silly bit of marketing showmanship.
MJ attended Thursday's Heat-Cavaliers game with Riley -- the TNT broadcast crew noted that Scottie Pippen also sat courtside, and suggested it might have been some subliminal "pair with Dwyane Wade!" messaging to LeBron James. MJ's presence made the game a bit more weird, and led to a rare political statement from LeBron: he thinks players should stop wearing No. 23 out of deference to His Airness, and he plans to lead the charge by switching to No. 6 next season.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- NBA star Shaquille O'Neal paid for the funeral of a 5-year-old North Carolina girl after being moved by national news coverage of the case of Shaniya Davis, who police say was kidnapped and killed.
DENVER -- Final four week turned into a flop of finalists.
DENVER -- Do as I say and not as I do.
DENVER -- 
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